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Faint Double-Image Through Windshield

One of the issues I noticed with my Model X when driving was that there is a faint double-image of everything through the windshield. It's really faint, but for example, when I look at the car in front of me, I can see a ghost double of the car right above it.

Is this unique to my glass or does everyone else have this and just not care / notice?

It's definitely present across the whole glass -- both the tinted and non-tinted areas.

I think refraction can only create a double-image in a birefringent material like calcite. I guess glass can sometimes exhibit double refraction, but you'd have to do some weird combination of polarizing it and subjecting it to stress.

One of the issues I noticed with my Model X when driving was that there is a faint double-image of everything through the windshield. It's really faint, but for example, when I look at the car in front of me, I can see a ghost double of the car right above it.
Is this unique to my glass or does everyone else have this and just not care / notice?

Click to expand...

I absolutely see this but mainly at night. I (and passengers) see double or even triple tail or headlights depending on how far away the vehicle is.

I assumed it is the layers of different material in the glass and the gentler slower than in other vehicle windows. I did try to take a picture of it with my phone but it does not show up in that image that I could tell. Perhaps the prescription glasses (and coating on them that I'm wearing).

In the lower 1/3 part of the window (if I scrunch down) it seems to go away. Seems weird because there seems to be just as much of an angle/slope down there as in the middle. I'm 5'11" and it is worse for me than my 5'3" wife.

I made a note of this with the service center so it is documented incase a solution is found (replacement window).

One of the issues I noticed with my Model X when driving was that there is a faint double-image of everything through the windshield. It's really faint, but for example, when I look at the car in front of me, I can see a ghost double of the car right above it.

Is this unique to my glass or does everyone else have this and just not care / notice?

Click to expand...

My guess would be that a small fraction of the light reflects on the inside surface of the glass and then a small fraction of that reflects again on the outside surface of the glass. This would produce a second image that is much dimmer than the main image and offset at the windshield by a fraction of an inch.

My guess would be that a small fraction of the light reflects on the inside surface of the glass and then a small fraction of that reflects again on the outside surface of the glass. This would produce a second image that is much dimmer than the main image and offset at the windshield by a fraction of an inch.

Click to expand...

I was thinking the plastic interlayers was reflecting the light differently. Can't explain the middle area working different than lower area.

I was down at my local service center for a minor fix today, and had time to chat with the service manager there (long time Tesla employee, very experienced (both in the SF Bay Area and also in the EU, very friendly and helpful). We discussed some customer complaints (some posted here in other threads), among other issues, and specifically talked about the Model X windshield issue. He specifically noted to me that the model X windshield ghosting issue is well known at various levels inside Tesla. He says that there is currently no fix/new windshield, and that when they figure out the answer, all affected customers will be addressed. He noted that the service managers actually have a ‘script’ from corporate to basically read to the customer. He acknowledges that this is suboptimal, and that some customers have been less than happy when told that this issue cannot be corrected immediately. Not fun for him, not fun for those affected. Don’t shoot the messenger.

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